Bangui (Central African
Republic) (AFP) - The mayor of the Central African Republic's capital Bangui
was chosen as interim president Monday, becoming the first woman to lead the
violence-wracked country, as the European Union agreed to send hundreds of
troops to help stem the bloodshed.
Catherine Samba-Panza, a
businesswoman with a reputation as a fighter who became Bangui mayor last year,
was elected in a second-round vote by the transitional parliament. She now
faces the enormous task of restoring peace to the chronically unstable country. Cheers broke out in the
assembly as the result was announced, with lawmakers singing the national
anthem in celebration.
In her victory speech,
Samba-Panza -- who won 75 votes against 53 for Desire Kolingba, the son of a
former president -- called for an end to violence by the mostly Muslim Seleka
ex-rebels and Christian self-defence militias known as "anti-balaka"
(anti-machete).
"I'm launching a
resounding appeal to my anti-balaka children who are listening to me: Show your
support for my nomination by giving the strong signal of laying down your
weapons," said Samba-Panza, who is Christian but did not campaign on a
religious platform.
"To my ex-Seleka
children who are also listening to me: Lay down your weapons," she said.
"Stop the suffering
of the people."
The 59-year-old called
herself "the president of all Central Africans, without exclusion",
and said her top priority was "to stop people's suffering, to restore
security and the authority of the state across the country".
EU foreign ministers
meanwhile agreed to send hundreds of troops to the country in a rare joint military
mission.
The mission, which will
deploy in and around the capital and last up to six months, is expected to
involve the rapid deployment of a force numbering anywhere from 400 to 1,000.
The troops will help back
up 1,600 French soldiers and the African Union's MISCA force, which currently
has 4,400 troops on the ground.
Chronology and fact file
on the crisis in Central African Republic (AFP Photo/)
International donors also
pledged $496 million (365 million euros) in aid to the country this year.
'CAR is in free-fall'
Samba-Panza's election
comes 10 months after the Seleka rebels overthrew the government and installed
their leader, Michel Djotodia, as the country's first Muslim president.
But Djotodia proved
powerless to control his fighters, and many went on a rampage of killing, rapes
and looting targeting the Christian majority.
Some Christian communities
responded by forming self-defence militias and attacking Muslims. Rights
watchdogs accuse both sides of major abuses, and the United Nations has warned
of a potential inter-religious genocide.
Djotodia stood down under
international pressure on January 10.
UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon said Monday the Central African Republic is "caught in a crisis of
epic proportions".
"The CAR is in
free-fall... We must act together, and act now, to pull CAR back from the brink
of further atrocities," he said in a statement.
The UN's top human rights
body appointed an expert to probe violations in the country, Ivory Coast national
Marie-Therese Keita Bocoum, who has previously worked in Burundi and Sudan's
Darfur region.
A team of UN investigators
who spent nearly two weeks in the CAR last month reported a litany of gross
human rights violations, including killings, kidnappings, torture and rape.
"The mission received
consistent, credible testimony and photographs supporting allegations that
anti-balaka (Christian militias) mutilated Muslim men, women and children,
before or after they were killed," said UN human rights chief Navi Pillay.
The violence has uprooted
a million people out of a population of 4.6 million, and the UN estimates 2.6
million need urgent humanitarian aid.
Relief workers said they
have found at least 73 more bodies of people killed in the north since Friday.
'An absolutely remarkable
woman'
Christians and Muslims had
previously lived in relative peace in the impoverished country, but it has had
a long chain of coups and rebellions since independence in 1960.
Residents of Bangui, where
outbreaks of brutal violence still spread fear despite the presence of foreign
troops, voiced elation at Samba-Panza's election.
"We're wild with joy
because we've been freed, because we've found a new president," said 19-year-old
Jean-Franklin Debonheur, one of dozens who took to the street in celebration in
the capital's central Miskine district.
"At last we can
forget Seleka. I'm happy. It warms my heart to see a woman lead the
country," said Diane, 22.
France, the country's
former colonial ruler, welcomed Samba-Panza's election and urged her to hold
speedy national polls. As interim leader she is tasked with organising general
elections by mid-2015, though France is pressing for them to be held this year.
"It now falls to her
to assure the needed peace and reconciliation in CAR, with a view to holding
democratic elections," said French President Francois Hollande.
French Foreign Minister
Laurent Fabius called Samba-Panza "an absolutely remarkable woman".
Congratulations to people of the Central African Republic, from us Adenike Salako Blog's World.
Source:news.yahoo.com
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